Stanford football: Inside the thrilling win

For a change Stanford had to come from behind on Saturday night in L.A. It trailed 20-10, 27-24, 34-27 and 48-41 in a game that will be discussed for many years.

Coach David Shaw deserves a lot of credit for marshalling his troops after losing tight Zach Ertz on the opening kickoff after losing regular kicker Jordan Williamson in pregame warmups. This, on top of missing strong safety Delano Howell with a hand injury for the second straight week, and being without Shayne Skov for the rest of the season.

Shaw set himself up for second-guessers on a 3rd-and-8 play at the USC 13. In a huge gamble, he moved Andrew Luck out of the quarterback position in favor of Tyler Gaffney out of the wildcat. The play was stuffed, but a field goal tied the game 27-27 with 5:10 left.